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Gardening has always seemed to be something that the Viennese adore. Massive gardens can be seen throughout the city of Vienna dating back hundreds of years.
It should come as no surprise that the city has taken to community and urban gardening — places where citizens can grow their own vegetables. There are numerous community gardens throughout the city that have popped up since 2010. They are easy to spot as someone is always working in their own plot of land.
Christoph is no stranger to these gardens. He has been tending his own garden in the Citizens Garden at Augarten since it first opened 10 years ago.
Christoph is an older gentleman who has been growing vegetables in his apartment with his wife for nearly thirty years. He says “gardening brings you closer to nature.”
He says he and his wife grew closer over the years because of the tending of their plants. It was something they could do together with little interruption from others. This is exactly what the city motto when introducing the citizen’s garden wanted. “Gardening together forges links” (translated from German).
Nowadays, unfortunately, he tends to his garden alone in his wife’s memory. “She always dreamed of having her own plot of land where we could tend to the garden…
